The invention relates to a clip suitable for, for example, coupling a plurality of attaching members, fastening one attaching member to the other attaching member, or fastening a functioning portion provided to the clip to an attaching member.
FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) show a conventional clip as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2590817. The clip is formed of a male member 30 and a female member 35, and a member (attaching member) 45 is fastened to a panel surface (attaching member) 40 by the clip, or the attaching members are fastened by the clip. The male member 30 includes a head portion 31, an inserting shaft 32 and an apex portion 33. The inserting shaft 32 has a base end neck portion 34a having a smaller diameter formed by narrowing a periphery of the inserting shaft 32, depressed portions 34b provided at a large diametrical periphery under the base end neck portion 34a, and a forward end neck portion 34c with a small diameter between the inserting shaft 32 and the apex portion 33. The female member 35 includes a flange portion 36, and a plurality of leg pieces 37. Each leg piece 37 has an engaging projection 38 on a forward end inner side thereof.
The male member 30 can take a temporarily fastened state with respect to the female member 35, as shown in FIG. 8(a), wherein the inserting shaft 32 is inserted into an inner hollow portion formed by the leg pieces 37, the apex portion 33 passes through the engaging projections 38, and the engaging projections 38 engage the forward end neck portion 34c. When the inserting shaft 32 is further inserted to release the above-stated engagement, the leg pieces 37 are widened by the large diametrical periphery near the depressed portions 34b. When the depressed portions 34b engage the engaging projections 38, the male member 30 takes a finally fastened state for coupling, as shown in FIG. 8(b), by sandwiching the attaching members 40, 45 between the wide diameter portions of the leg pieces 37 and the flange 36, or fastening the attaching member 40 to the attaching member 45 (the coupling and fastening are substantially the same in that an insertion control operation of the flange 36 and an extraction preventing operation by the large diameter portions of the leg pieces 37 are used).
In case the member 45 is removed from the panel surface 40 or the coupling of the attaching members 40, 45 is released for repairing and so on, for example, a tool is inserted under the head portion 31 of the male member 30, and the male member 30 is extracted against an engaging force between each depressed portion 34b and the engaging projection 38 to change to the temporarily fastened state, as shown in FIG. 8(a). Then, the male and female members 30, 35 are extracted from the respective attaching holes 40a, 45a as one unit.
The clip as described above has good operating ability and is convenient in that after the male and female members 30, 35 are manufactured, they can be handled in the temporarily fastened state; the male and female members 30, 35 can take the finally fastened state from the temporarily fastened state through an insertion operation; and they can be repeatedly used by detaching after use. However, there are yet the following dissatisfied points.
First, the clip of this type is made of resin. Thus, in case the leg pieces 37 are held in a widened state for a long period of time, its elasticity is deteriorated, so that even if the clip is returned to the temporarily fastened state from the finally fastened state, the clip may not be returned to its original state, and the male and female members may not be easily extracted from the attaching holes 40a, 45a. In this structure, the large apex portion 33 is provided at a forward end of the inserting shaft 32, the apex portion 33 is projected outwards from the forward ends of the leg pieces 37, and the leg pieces 37 with the widened diameter are housed inside the apex portion 33 to thereby shrink the widened diameter. Therefore, the apex 33 is projected outwards from the forward ends of the leg pieces 37 and the whole length of the clip becomes long, so that the apex 33 interferes with other members to thereby result in a poor appearance. Further, since the apex 33 receives the forward ends of the leg pieces 37 with the large diameter therein, for example, a large inserting force is required when the clip is set in the temporarily fastened state.
Second, the clip of this type is held in two positions, i.e. the temporarily fastened state for preventing the male member 30 from being extracted from the female member 35 in the state where the diameter of the leg pieces 37 is not widened, and the finally fastened state for preventing the male member 30 from being extracted from the female member 35 in the state where the diameter of the leg pieces 37 is widened. In order to hold the temporarily fastened state, as shown in FIG. 8(a), there is an engaging structure formed of a step portion (forward end neck portion 34c) on the inserting forward end side of the male member 30, and the projections (engaging projections 38) on the forward end side of the female member 35; or there is an engaging structure formed of depressed portions and projecting portions to be engaged with and disengaged from each other provided at opposed inner portions of a male member side inserting shaft and female member side leg pieces.
The former case has the problems as described above. The latter case has such problems that the projecting portions are disposed on an inner periphery of a cylinder formed of the leg pieces to thereby cause abrasion. Also, an operating ability when the inserting shaft is further inserted to take the finally fastened state, or conversely, when the inserting shaft is extracted from the finally fastened state to the temporarily fastened state, is deteriorated. Further, a close contact ability when the inserting shaft is inserted into the cylinder formed of the leg pieces is lowered, and the like.
In view of the above defects, the present invention has been made, and an object of the invention is to provide a clip to obviate all the above-described defects at the same time, wherein even in case the widely opened leg pieces are returned to the original small diametrical cylinder, the whole length of the clip can be shortened; the male member does not rotate inadvertently with respect to the female member; and in case the male member is extracted from the finally fastened state to the temporarily fastened state, the male member is not inadvertently disengaged from the female member to thereby raise reliability of the clip.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
In order to attain the above objects, a clip includes a male member and a female member, wherein the male member is formed of a head portion and an inserting shaft, and the female member is formed of a flange portion having an inserting hole and a plurality of leg pieces disposed in a substantially cylindrical shape through upper and lower slits. Thus, the male and female members are held in a temporarily fastened state by inserting the inserting shaft through the inserting hole into an inner side of the leg pieces, and are held in a finally fastened state by further inserting the inserting shaft to enlarge the diameter of the leg pieces to thereby fasten the clip to an attaching member or attaching members. The clip according to the present invention includes, as correcting devices, engaging projections provided between at least a pair of adjacent leg pieces out of the plural leg pieces for narrowing the widened diameter of the leg pieces by extracting the male member to take the temporarily fastened state from the finally fastened state.
According to the structure as described above, since the correcting devices are disposed between the leg pieces, in other words, corresponding to the upper and lower slits, the whole length of the male member can be shortened, and consequently, the whole length of the clip can also be shortened when compared with the conventional structure wherein the large apex is provided at the forward end of the inserting shaft. Also, since spaces of the upper and lower slits between the adjacent leg pieces are used, it is facilitated to prevent an inserting force of the male member from becoming larger than it is necessary; conversely, to prevent the temporarily fastened state from being inadvertently released; and to prevent the temporarily fastened state from being unstable.
By the way, in the specification, xe2x80x9cto hold the temporarily fastened statexe2x80x9d means that the male member is prevented from being extracted from the female member in a state where the leg pieces are not substantially widened. xe2x80x9cTo hold the finally fastened statexe2x80x9d means that the male member is prevented from being extracted from the female member in a state where the leg pieces are widened. xe2x80x9cTo fasten the attaching members to each otherxe2x80x9d means that in case members more than two are coupled with or fastened to each other, one or plural members on a side to be attached is coupled with or fastened to the other one or plural members on a side to be fastened.
It is preferable that the above described invention is embodied as follows.
First, step portions are disposed at side edge portions of the respective leg pieces and forming inclined cam surfaces lowered in a direction of a central line of the leg pieces as the inclined cam surfaces approach a forward end. The engaging projections are formed on forward end sides of ribs provided to the inserting shaft and slidably moved by fitting into the. upper and lower slits. In this case, relative rotations of the male and female members are prevented through fitting of the ribs with the upper and lower slits, and insertion and extraction of the inserting shaft are carried out by the guiding actions of the upper and lower slits and ribs.
Therefore, even if the engaging projections are separated from the inclined cam surfaces in the finally fastened state where the leg pieces are widened, the leg pieces are positively returned to the initial shapes since the engaging projections abut against the raised portions of the inclined cam surfaces through extraction accompanied by the guiding actions of the male member.
Second, the step portion is formed such that a thickness of an edge portion on a side of the leg piece is partially made thin, and the temporarily fastened state is held through an engagement of the engaging projection with the raised step end surface of the inclined cam surface. The step end surface of the step portion is used as a portion for holding the temporarily fastened state together with the engaging projection. Its advantages reside in that a space between the leg pieces and the inserting shaft can be made small as little as possible; the temporarily fastened state and the finally fastened state can be positively held by the different exclusive portions of the male and female members; and even in that case, the whole length of the clip can be shortened.
Third, the finally fastened state is held by engagements of the claw portions provided on the inner sides of the forward ends of the leg pieces and engaging steps provided between the ribs and located around the forward end of the inserting shaft. Contrary to the conventional clip, the claw portions and the engaging steps are provided at the forward ends of the corresponding leg pieces and inserting shaft, and the male member does not almost project from the female member to thereby make the clip of the invention compact.
Fourth, each rib includes a first rib portion positioned on a side of the head portion and having a large width, and a second rib portion positioned on a forward end side and having a small width. The second rib portions are provided with the engaging projections. The upper and lower slits include a wide first slit portion corresponding to the first rib portion and a narrow second slit portion corresponding to the second rib portion. The step portion is provided to the leg piece portion facing the second slit portion. With this structure, the above-stated guiding actions can be made more stable, and the structure for holding the temporarily fastened state can be easily realized.
According to another aspect of the invention which is directed to a holding structure for holding the temporarily fastening state of the above invention, a clip is formed of a male member and a female member, wherein the male member has a head portion and an inserting shaft; the female member includes a flange portion with an inserting hole and a plurality of leg pieces disposed in a cylindrical shape through upper and lower slits; the male and female members are held in the temporarily fastened state by inserting the inserting shaft into a cylindrical inner side of the leg pieces through the inserting hole; and a finally fastened state can be obtained by further inserting the inserting shaft so that the leg pieces are widely opened to be fastened to an attaching member or members.
The inserting shaft has ribs slidably moved along the slits by fitting into the upper and lower slits, and engaging projections provided at forward end sides of the respective ribs. The plural leg pieces have step portions disposed on the side edge portions of at least a pair of adjacent leg pieces and having a depth capable of housing the engaging projections within the thickness of the leg piece. In the temporarily fastened state, each engaging projection engages the step end surface of the step portion within the thickness of the leg piece.
According to the above structure, contrary to the engaging structure, as mentioned in the prior art, wherein the depressed portions and projecting portions to be engaged with and disengaged from each other are provided to portions facing an inner diameter direction of the inserting shaft of the male member and the leg pieces of the female member, the above-stated guiding actions and operating ability of insertion or extraction of the inserting shaft 12 are added, while projecting portions in the diametrical direction are omitted. Thus, factors causing abrasions are removed to thereby improve a close contacting ability of the inserting shaft in the cylinder formed by the leg pieces.